Figure 1: Screenshot of the MagView postprocessor for 3D magnetostatics. The system has a complex asymmetric geometry. The solution volume contains many objects with different material properties. Materials have complex properties ( e.g. , saturation of iron in magnetic circuits) In an ideal case, a user makes analytic estimates of field values and then applies numerical methods to improve the accuracy. The initial analysis gives an understanding of the physics involved and the anticipated scales of quantities essential information for effective solution setups. The worst case is when a user treats a program as an omniscient black box.
No matter what software manufacturers may claim, using a field program without understanding fields is at best a gamble. Sometimes you may get lucky, but most of the time considerable effort is wasted generating meaningless results. In summary, I would like to help you become an informed software user. I suggest you start by downloading a free textbook that will help you brush up on electric and magnetic field theory. The book also gives a detailed description of the FEM techniques I will discuss: S. Humphries, Finite-element Methods for Electromagnetics (CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1997) (available for free download at http://www.fieldp.com/femethods.html ). 5